Related art interior panels for vehicles, such as automobiles, but also other vehicles, are typically installed using garnish clips. As used herein, an “interior panel” refers to a covering located within the interior of a vehicle and visible therewithin, such interior panel also being interchangeably referred to herein as an “interior lining.” These garnish clips come attached on the interior panel itself and typically face the same direction to aid assembly of the vehicle.
Limited attachment space on the panel and/or body part may limit the number and locations available for known attachment clips and may lead to the undesirable formation of gaps, for example, between glass and abutting interior panels. Additionally, installation of the panel may occur without visually being able to identify all of the clip attachment points. With a large amount of clips being present on the panel, some clips may get crushed, rather than properly be engaged, or may not fully and properly be engaged with corresponding clip points.
FIG. 1 shows an example panel and FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of the panel and a corresponding body portion to which the panel is attached, both in accordance with the related art. Some surfaces may flow along the Z plane (e.g., in a direction toward the vehicle roof, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) and X plane (e.g., the direction between the front and back of the vehicle, as shown in FIG. 1), not solely the Y plane (e.g., in the direction of connection between the interior panel and the vehicle body part, as shown in FIG. 2). However at least some known interior panel clips need to be placed in position so as to properly travel in the install direction, which is the Y direction as shown in FIG. 2. This leaves the top curved Z surface “floating” (see “Z surface” indicated in FIG. 2), in that no panel clips are located near this region. In this example, a sunshade, which is attached on the interior panel on the Z surface, adds additional weight to the interior panel and also interferes with the use of clips at higher locations on the interior panel (upwardly in the Z direction as indicated in FIG. 2; see also “blocked clip area” indicated in FIG. 2).
Related art interior panel assembly features are often specific just to vehicle door applications (which is typically inapplicable to addressing problems with non-door interior panel installation), for example, or in some cases, to other vehicle portions, but in a manner that does not fully address problems with such installation, and which may further give rise to other problems, such as requiring additional parts and/or welding of additional features, and/or failing to identify and/or address potential errors in assembly.
A system for attaching interior panels to vehicle body portions that provides support to a Z surface in at least the Z direction, without reducing space within the vehicle, and while maintaining manufacturability of the vehicle, is desired.